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Hello, I hope you are well. You might remember a few years ago, the UK broadcaster, Channel 5, released a hit series about marriage immigration fraud, called Holiday Love Rats Exposed. The series explored this little-known area and brought these scams, and the terrible impact on sometimes vulnerable men and women, to public attention. The contributors involved thanked us for giving their cases traction. You may have come across an organisation called Immigration Marriage Fraud UK (immigrationmarriagefrauduk.co.uk); we’re working with founder Dee and contributor Kim to make a further documentary. I'm keen to hear from someone who has been affected by marriage fraud to help me understand these horrible scams more. If anyone is available for a quick chat over the phone so I could explain a little better, and if you felt like it, you could explain your experience - you do not have to speak about anything you don't feel comfortable about. Ideally, this would be someone who went on holiday and met someone, perhaps married them, brought them home to the UK or America (or planned to do so), only to find that their partner was sadly only with them for a visa, money etc.. Does this ring any bells for you? You could be based in the UK or further afield. We do of course understand that discussing these matters is highly sensitive but I can assure you that any initial conversations will remain confidential and be for research purposes only. If you then feel comfortable taking it further, we can discuss it. Nine Lives Media, the independent television company making this documentary, has won two Baftas, an International Emmy plus RTS awards and prides itself on working with contributors on sensitive issues. If you think you fit the bill, please feel free to message me, call me on 0044 (0)161 832 2007 or email me on [email protected] Our turnaround time is quite tight, and we’ll need to identify potential contributors swiftly, so it would be great to hear about your story soon! Many thanks!

Hi guys I have not been on for such a long while and here is my story. My real name is Mary and I am a member of another forum and my story is on there also but it involves the owner of the forum and the emlak Crescent Homes/Akaylar Emlak Didum.Firstly there are 2 issues.............The first was buying of the villa from a company called Homes Bodrum in Bodrum that are now not trading many people have been scammed by this person called Nihat Gollu he has been taken to courts has judgements against him however we cannot obtain our Title Deeds for this propery this has been ongoing since 2007. Debts were put on the properties whilst we were all applying for our Millitary Clearance.We had 3 Lawyers M Check done and paid for in 2007 but no title deeds, keys to the property and were using it since this date. A court case that went no where and cost thousands.Secondly Crescent Homes/Akaler Emlak in Didum altinkum via the T Living Forum had a member called CarolK pursuing members the aim was for Halis Akay from Akaylar Emlak pursue the Title Deeds by investigation and to this aim I paid 250.00 sterling. He then said that he had found Nihat Gollu but the villa has been passed on to Sahin Gollu but they could get the Title Deeds so upfront expenses were required, so I sent them all 2400.00 sterling pounds to include the 3% property tax. Almost 3 years have gone by and in 2010 we were told that M Check was needed as the villa had changed hands so we had to pay 3200 t lira! Then in 2011 were told that the owner Sahin Golllu would hand over the title deeds if we paid 10,000 t lira all done by C Homes/Akaylar Emlak the deal,we could not come up with anymore money and it was left on the back burner for a while as our daughter became vey very ill and was in a coma for many weeks. In 2012 we were contacted that the owner wanted to sell the property so C Homes said that if we did not come up with the money it would be auctioned off. Facts are that we raised the money via a loan sent it to CHomes then in December received a message that Sahin gollu wanted 8K and all together it required 9.5K to obtain the title Deeds.Obviously by now you all can read what is happening. This continuef for a while but some members and friends stepped in and with there help over 1 week a go I went to Turkey to sort it out once and for all. Here are the findings.This is my post on T L Forum.................................... Below this post. Why am I on here is to expose this scam and say that to date hve not received back the 3200lra for the MC that wasnt done nor did it have be done as the 2007 one was still current and I did receive the 4K back from C Homes they were forced to do so but not had the expenses back of 2400K back and not in possession of the villa. C Homes/Akaylar emlak have done this to a number of Brits and we are all trying to obtain our monies back. Not only have we lost our places but another scam took place on top of all this, it requires exposure. Thanks all for listening a devastated Mary and Hubby 5 years on and no nearer to obtaining what was rightfully ours.POST OF MY VISIT IN JAN/FEB 2013I suppose there must be some people who have been wondering what has happened to me? Well once you have read this post I am sure it will all become crystal clear.First & foremost Tony & I would like to thank ALL the members on this forum for their support & in some cases that included financial support. We would also like to thank people who are not on TLF but have also been there for us.So where have I been? I have just returned from Turkey, the mission was one final attempt for us to obtain our villa..........I have no intention of mixing & matching issues here.I will deal with the villa firstly because that was & always has been the priority. The demand from the now so called “owner” was for £8,000 in cash for the transfer. We contacted a lawyer; we were strongly advised NOT to do this until such times as the “owner” was in Milas Tapu Office & doing the transfer. The lawyer made contact with the “owner”, many things came to light, one of which being that once we had paid the 8K & had the Tapu had been transferred, a charge of at least 19,000TL would have been laid on the property. This charge related to the court case that we took out via LLI, which through lack of funds we had to drop and the fact that LLI told us it was a very weak case, not only that but they had not carried out correctly the right and due process in turkey. The Tapu itself was showing no debts but there was one debt waiting on the sidelines for us, there could have been more. We have now accepted that the villa will never be ours & we are 100% sure that if we had handed over the 8K.............it would have been 8K down the drain.I have deliberately kept issues very separate here. I NEVER purchased off Crescent Homes but I did employ them to help me obtain the villa.On a well “know thread” Crescent Homes” stated something on the lines of “the Military Search that we had done for you is waiting at Milas Tapu Office”. Before getting the flight out to Turkey I made contact with a translator in Milas, I explained what I needed..............we made arrangements to meet in Milas & go to the Milas Tapu Office, his charge was 95TL. In Milas Tapu Office it was verbally explained to me that NO Military Search had been requested on the property that should have been ours over the years of 2009, 2010, 2011. I was shown details of a Military Search dated 2007. I never gave any details relating to what Crescent Homes had publicly stated on this Forum, it was just me making an enquiry. It was also pointed out that the person or Company who applied would or should have documentation relating to the Search i.e. Ref Number & receipts. I ask you again CRESCENT HOMES WHERE ARE THE REF NUMBERS, WHERE ARE THE RECEIPTS? Better still where is my 3,200TL that I paid you for the Search that there are NO records of you EVER doing.To those people with the attitude of “here we go again or we are going in circles”, may I say this? My circle has been a round trip to Turkey, firstly to obtain the villa, secondly to finally tell people that my statement on this post is FACT; there is no hearsay here just FACT. There, in the past have been respected & longstanding members on TLF asking the same question as me, WHERE IS THE PAPERWORK?Why did I not tell people I was coming to Turkey? The phone calls from CH to my husband & me have been “menacing” to say the least. ANYONE who is invited to CH office to discuss their disputes does it with caution as I did.To Scotsteve: Your posts over peoples issues are line after line of what most people consider “drivel”, 3,000kl................500 hours manpower, has it not twigged with you yet? Has the Penny not dropped? Do you honestly think people want to come into your office to try & claim money back from you? People who you have “helped” are now looking just how much that so called “help” has cost them & how much Crescent Homes made out of them. I have the PAPERWORK TO DFISCLOSE HOW MUCH I HAVE PAID 2400.00 STERLING IN COSTS UPFRONT then 3200 t lira for the MCIt takes not much working out that the 3 of us who have screamed the loudest on this forum are ALL in the UK, out of Crescent Homes reach. The lot of you may well be in a different situation if you were in the UK operating as you are doing.I would suggest to anybody who reads this post or even the whole of the threads relating to these issues. If you are offered help by a company, DO NOT do it “over the phone” get their prices & commitments in writing.........DO NOT just walk into any office & hand over lumps of cash, any monies paid get a receipt & have it clearly written in English what it is for & who the person is receiving it.CHomes/Akaylar tapu EmlakPay people back what you owe because we are not going away

My SGK-insured father recently agreed to undergo surgery to correct a problem he had with his vertebrae in Alanya at the private Baskent hospital. The total price for the surgery was less than 3000TL and was paid before the operation. However, something happened during the surgery that supposedly necessitated the installation of two titanium screws at extra cost of around 10000TL.What do you think are the chances that there's some sort of fraud involved instead of a genuine need to save my father's well-being? Just thinking quick it certainly occurred to me that the surgeon may have anticipated such a need before the operation but neglected to inform my father of this as he would not have agreed to such an expensive operation. Of course there are many other possibilities like the lack of any actual need for such costly extras.Do you have any suggestions how one could proceed in this sort of a situation?